How to Enhance Photos With a Pen Tablet
Download Source Files
Have you ever come across a photo where all the highlights and shadows seem just too good to be true? If it’s not HDR processing, it’s pen tablet magic. Find out in this tutorial how to give a regular image a subtle, artistic feel with some clever brush work. Read more after the jump!
Final Image Preview
Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $19/month. You can view the final image preview below or a larger version here.
Video Tutorial
I created these videos to compliment this text + image tutorial.
Step 1
The first thing you need to do is download this photo of a tiger. Paste it in a new blank document (1575px by 1055px at 300 dpi). Rotate it and place it as shown in the image below. Also, while having the background layer selected press Command + I to invert it to black.
Step 2
Now it’s time to separate the tiger from the background. We also want to fade the image out gradually, so the most efficient way is to do both of these tasks at the same time. By changing the background color to black, all we have to do now is erase portions of the tiger.
To avoid any damage to the photo though, we’ll do that through a Layer Mask. With the tiger’s layer active, go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All. From now on, anything you paint within the Layer Mask with black will disappear. If you feel you’ve erased too much, paint with white to bring back parts of the image.
It’s important that you do this with a tablet and at very low levels of Opacity. The idea is for the transitions to be very subtle, so sometimes when painting over dark regions with white, 1-5% Opacity is best to work with. For this step, begin to darken the background of the image to black. Use something around 10% Opacity.
Step 3
Eliminate as much as you can with the background, but don’t go over the tiger itself.
Step 4
Reduce the brush size and go right up to the outline of the tiger. Try not to completely erase the whiskers. They’ll be difficult to bring back if you’re not sure where they are.
Step 5
Now use a large brush and cover the left side of its face and the top of the body. Add a little black on the lower part too.
Step 6
Now change the forward color to white and bring back the ear by painting over it with 100% Opacity.
Step 7
Change to black again, lower the Opacity considerably and darken the center of the ear.
Step 8
Darken the neck by focusing on the stripes. Leave the white portions somewhat visible.
Step 9
By now, only the tiger’s head should be visible, and portions of the neck.
Step 10
With 1-5% Opacity, bring back some of the white parts of the chest area. Fading out the body shouldn’t be abrupt and uniform. Since its fur is not flat, you’ll still be able to see some of the white parts of the neck.
Step 11
And that should be it for separating the image from the background. Because the background color is solid black, it looks a bit odd now, but it will look just right with a few Adjustment Layers at the end.
Step 12
Now it’s time to add highlights and shadows. In this before and after photo you can see the basic principle of everything we’re about to do from now on.
On a separate layer, use white as the foreground color to paint linear highlights. To add contrast, switch to black and darken in the same way. You’ll have to judge where you think all these will apply, so it’s not an exact science at all. A more reflective surface like the fangs will have thinner and brighter outlines, while the tongue will require a more spread out reflection.
Step 13
Paint a white stroke along the margin of the tongue. Also, add a touch of white over the center, but don’t just use a large brush size. Use a 2px brush on low Opacity and paint according to the texture of the tongue.
Step 14
For the fangs, paint along the edges and a bit near the center.
Step 15
The reflection of the nose is different from the white lines we’ve created so far. Instead of painting straight lines over the center of the nose, lower the Opacity even more and paint with a circular motion of the hand.
Step 16
Don’t forget to add highlights on the lips and on the inner side of the cheek.
Step 17
Give the nose a well defined outline too.
Step 18
Now change the brush size to 1px and give those highlights a sharp feel.
Step 19
Don’t forget the top of the head too.
Step 20
With the same 1px brush size, paint shadows this time
Step 21
Darken the left side of each fang. The boosted contrast will make them look more impressive.
Step 22
Add similar shadows to the entire mouth. To add sharpness to these effects, paint dark areas along side white ones.
Step 23
It’s time to switch our attention to the entire head. Change the brush size to around 80 and add shadows to the white parts of the head.
Step 24
It’s time to draw some digital hair on the darker portions. Grab a 1px brush on a very low Opacity (1-5%) and paint thin, curly lines that resemble the fur. You may need to do this over several parts of the image. Below is a close-up.
Step 25
Draw a thin, jagged line across the top of the head and edge of the ear.
Step 26
And that’s it for the enhancements! Your image should now look something like this:
Step 27
Finish the image, we’ll add a few Adjustment Layers. The first one’s a Selective Color effect. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color. Double-click on the layer’s icon to bring up the settings. From the drop-down menu, find Blacks. Change it as shown here below.
Step 28
Now find the Yellows and change the settings as follows, then Press OK when you’re done.
Step 29
Add one final Adjustment Layer: Gradient Map. Bring up the settings by clicking on the layer’s icon and click on the Color Gradient bar. When a second window opens, click on the first gradient from the bottom row. Change the first color (Violet) to a dark blue: #121929. Press OK and change the layer’s Opacity to 10%.
Final Image
All done! Here is the final version below.
Conclusion
The true potential of this technique lies in its versatility. You can use a tablet to enhance just about any photo. Below is a before and after example of how I enhanced a portrait image of a man.
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By Alex Beltechi
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Nice tut, so far I’m just using my tablet for everything, but have however never tried this out (: Thanks for sharing! I’ll try and mess around with it tonight!
This is neat, but it looks to me a little over-retouched. It’s stopped looking like a photo and is stepping into painting territory.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s some awesome techniques here. I just think that they need to be a little more subtle.
The portrait at the end looks over touched, but the Tiger image is beautiful. It has a sense of wonder and class to it. Well done.
I agree with you. Maybe it could have been better not to only use white for highlights or doing it more subtle. It also could have been great to use colors of the photo as highlight colour bases but there it becomes more like painting techniques.
Therefore, if it had been enhancing a photo, maybe it would have been better to use the dodge and shadow pencil.
NICE! But the last one was creepy
lol really
I agree. It looks like a creepy HDR photo… I prefer the ‘before’ photo.
thx for the tip :)
Nice. It’s a lot about high contrast. This is a well known and used art style. (in ads. Maybe mainly in Germany – I don’t know) Check out artists like Jim Fiscus (who has set this trend) or Calvin Hollywood.
Wow… These guys are really talented, thats some of the best work I’ve seen in a long time. I especialy like Calvins work…
Awesome
Or is it just me? >:)
Nice job. The final photo looks off though. You’ve enhanced the wrinkles in his face, bleached out the color in his skin, and added grey hairs. This is a completely different mood and tonal atmosphere the original photographer was going for.
Wow, the guy in the conclusion has a great photo, and looks dead after the “enhancement”.
Brilliant :)
this is very encouraging… nice technique and easy to follow steps even a non-traditional designer like me can follow..
This is great.
thanks for the creat tutorial.
I have just got my first tablet, some great ideas and advice on here to learn from.
looks like HDR effect to me…sweet!!!
I am so going to buy a tablet…!
I just recently bought a Bamboo, yeah I know they are cheap and not for serious artists, but they can actually still yeild some good results. Amazon has some refrubs for cheap.
I use the Bamboo Touch&Pen for all the psdtuts+ screen-casts now and love it.
I’ve got one of those too — it gets the job done.
I love my bamboo
I would recommend the Cintiq… It’s by far the best tablet in my opinion. I know it’s a bit expensive, but it’s definitely worth the money.
if you can’t draw at all, then you won’t be better with a cintiq. don’t get me wrong but i don’t think anyone deserves a cintiq, who reads tutorials like that on this site except for the one who posted it.
it’s like buying a ferrari one week after you got your drivers license. every non-professional artist is fine with a bamboo medium. so everyone who feels bad about using it – just don’t.
I’ve no money for newer Intuos or the Cyntiq. So, I bought a 2nd-hand Intuos 2. Is cheaper and have 2x more pression levels than the bamboo. It a great work tool.
Great tut!.
I have to agree with margaret. I think this is a very cool tutorial but this isn’t photo re-touching, its giving photos a painterly effect.
The “hyper-real” photos I think this is meant to refer to are usually done in a similar manner, but using masked adjustment layers such as curves, etc. to paint back in boosted highlights and shadows – which are rooted in the colors of the actual photos, whereas in this tutorial you are using straight white and black which contributes to the unnatural feel in the images.
But regardless, awesome technique. I thoroughly enjoyed this.
He took a photo and adjusted/added to it. To me, that defines retouching.
What an awesome tutorial you have build up here. Looking forward to try it out on my pics.
AMAZING tutorial. I’ve been looking for something like this for ages!! I thank you greatly!
Really useful Tutorial !
Thanks guys! Two part screencast coming real soon. I’ve had tons of trouble optimizing it, so it’s unfortunately late. But it will get there eventually, once my operating system stops being a pain in the neck…
THAT WAS EPIC!!!!!!
I am excited to see this tutorial as well, especially since I just got my tablet from FedEx yesterday. Thanks for sharing!
That was pretty good
o_o COOL
Anybody looking for a more realistic effect, consider this doing the following instead: Make a new layer on top of the photo, set it to overlay blend mode, give it a neutral gray color, and then burn and dodge where the shadows and highlights are respectively. Use the same drawing techniques and ideas shown in this tutorial.
I haven’t tried it out myself in this way exactly, but I think it might give a more realistic effect.
Great tutorial, but I really really hate it when techniques like this get referred to as “photo enhancing”. There are waaay too many “photographers” out there who paint out backgrounds like you did with the tiger and pass it off as how the photo was originally.
It is far more than enhancing an image when you change major aspects such as removing the background or changing the lighting but adding highlights/shadows. That’s in the realm of photomanipulation via paintover.
Like I said, great tutorial, I love your techniques, I just don’t like how you’re “marketing” it ;)
Isn’t it all about the end product? The techniques you are referring to are to enhance the photo and have a vision come true. Otherwise it’s just photojournalism. Using enhanced techniques is common place throughout all creative industries. As a designer/retoucher/artist, it’s all about the end product and successfully achieving your vision.
Looks more like a painting than a photo in the end. On that last pic, I think you went a little too far in highlighting the clothes, but the face looks good… a lot like the HDR effect like others were saying.
Good tips, but it starts to produce a painting look if you do it a lot… the goal I suppose is to find that point where you’ve reached the maximum contrast without making the photo look fake.
it is labeled under “painting” but based on the description I agree as well. Not really a photo touch-up tutorial.
I wonder if you could do all of these edits on a new layer then use a blending mode to make it less pronounced?
I want to try it on some of my on pics to see.
maybe there is method to create a similar effect
Stunning!
amazing… thanks
Great tut. It came in very handy for me, I bought my first tablet today and I had never used one before so this is right up my alley in my learning curve. I have already used these tips to redo an old portrait of mine and it looks great. Keep ‘em coming!
Great tut, but I have to say the end result looks like one of those t-shirts that you see in gift stores… like the ones with howling wolves or dolphins.
As seen here: http://timberwolfhq.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/3-wolves-howling-tshirt.jpg
and in one of the latest Office episodes.
behen ki lund
i’m sorry that wasn’t me… this tutorial is great!
thanks for the creat tutorial. god job…
there is too many image to explaine a simple steps..
by the way,this is good job, thx !
This is a really nice tutorial! i haven’t had a chance to use my intuos4 for many things yet – i think i’ll try this out :)
Thanks !
the tiger result is amazing – but dont know what to think about the “old man”
;D
lol someones a hellsing fan. love it. I don’t think the old man is a bad image aha i think it turned out well. it has like a dramatic effect to it lol
It’s a great effect for movie posters! =)
Thanks for sharing!!!
Bravoooo
Enhancing a picture is painting:D
A lot of people seem to be complaining that this takes away from the photo-realism of the image. I think a sort of deliberate “fake” look, or look of almost being painted, is often desirable or intended. I myself aim for that look in many of my works. I found this tutorial to be pretty darn insightful. Thanks.
The tiger is great!
The final image looks to be a lot sharper!
:(
Very useful tutorial, nice tips !
Bravo! I really love people that put a lot of skill into their work and not just learn a few filters by heart and slap them on everywhere.
Way to go!
Great tut!
This is really nice, and helpful. I got my Wacom intuos 4 like 5 weeks ago, for primarily vector use. I’v only used it twice. This might get the ball rolling!
Immaculate execution! The screencast was great.